Monday, August 1, 2016

The blue skis, the warmer weather, the taste of blackberry pies, the time sitting in metal chairs visiting, swinging lazily in the hammock, deck swing and wood swing, watching the birds over the fields and hearing the WIND BLOW! There's the daily cutting of the hydrangeas, visiting coastal beauties, such as lighthouses, the fun slip-n-slides. Making of snacks such as caramel corn, and blackberry smoothies...and blackberries pies....over and over!

Thursday, March 10, 2016

Tuesday nights have always been my favorite night of the week. Growing up it was my night to do the dishes, which you'd think would make Tuesday nights the most unfavorable night of the week, considering there were 11 people in our family. Yes, I have 8 siblings! However, the feeling I always got when I completed washing the dishes (always, always by hand, we never had a dishwasher that I can remember!), was one of complete relief! I was FREE for another whole week! Well, unless it was my turn to put the clothes on the clothes line, or fold and put away clothes....that's another story!

So now that I'm all grown up, Tuesday is the only night of the week that I must have the remote in my hand. It's "Fixer Upper" night on TV! There's so many reasons I love the show, but the fun Chip and Joanna have as they work together is a powerful testimony for marriage. WORK TOGETHER and ENJOY, and have fun! Yep, there's going to be that ONE phone call every week, where an unseen expense comes up and must be paid for by SOMEONE...... But they plow through it, and the fixed up houses shine like stars upon completion!

Joanna has a unique style when it comes to decorating the home for the big reveal. I understand the home owners don't get to keep so much of what she displays, but they do get the option to purchase it. There is often a big gift that Joanna gives the buyers, a table, art creation, or sign, perhaps. I love her creative spirit in finding just what will blend in with the nature of the new home owner and family. As far as Joanna's "style", well go search on the Pinterest boards for "Fixer Upper" style. There's some good blog postings out there on how to create this look in your own home. One main thing is to GET RID OF ALL YOUR JUNK! Or, the "things" in your home that just take up space, need dusting, and don't really thrill your soul! Minimize your "stuff", and maximize the things you love, making those items shine.

Why this show is often considered "farm style", I don't know. Farm, ranch, country....all those styles really just blend. Do you have a cow outside your back door? Do you have horses in your front pasture? Does your rooster crow at 4 AM? We've had all that here, and more, but I've never really considered our home "farm style"! When we first moved here in the country, I named our home, "Sweet Woodruff Acres". At the time I was making a lot of herb gardens, and one of the herbs I grew was "Sweet Woodruff". Those plants are long gone, but I stuck with the name. It helped that Woodruff is our last name! And I love all sweet things!

Since I started watching "Fixer Upper", I thought about changing the name of our home to "Sweet Woodruff Farm". We do have good memories of those days "farm style" days. I have milked a cow for our usage, have had freezers full of beef, and nothing beats farm fresh eggs! But we haven't had chickens, cows and other farm animals here for years, so I'll stick with the original name, "Sweet Woodruff Acres."

But one thing for certain, we are a "fixer upper" home, in perpetual fixer upper stage and always have been!

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Oh my! It's been a few months since I've posted here on my sweet lil blog! So sorry. With so many social media outlets it seems we just superficially skate around the web. One place I spend considerable couch-time at night "working" (lol, that's what I call it--though they never send me a paycheck!) is Pinterest. I realized that most of what I pin or re-pin does come from blogs, so it's our duty as individual bloggers to put out there some good content. I'll try harder... *wink*.

The day before Valentine's Day I attended a ladies luncheon. I didn't want to arrive empty handed and woke up early that morning thinking of something I could bring for the hostess. Remembering our school days of bringing Valentines for all our classmates I then decided to bring "Valentines" for each of the ladies. With only about two hours to work with I quickly decided to make some biscotti cookies and package them up for each of the ladies.With some ripe bananas on the counter I knew just what to make, "Banana White Chocolate Chip Biscotti" cookies. I photo-copied this recipe from a cookbook I checked out at the library years ago, neglecting to make note of which cookbook it was. The original recipe calls for chocolate chips, but I've always used white chocolate chips, which I think blends better with the banana flavor. Here's the recipe:

Banana White
Chocolate Chip Biscotti

1 cup sugar

½ cup butter
(softened)

½ cup mashed
ripe banana (1 medium)

1 tsp.
vanilla

2 eggs

3 cups flour

3 tsp.
baking powder

¼ tsp salt

¾ cup white
chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350°. Great large cookie sheet.

Beat sugar and butter in large bowl. Beat in banana, vanilla and eggs until smooth. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt. Stir in white chocolate chips.

Divide dough in half. Shape each half into 10x3-inch rectangle on cookie sheet with greased hands (dough will be sticky).

Bake about 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.Cool on cookie sheet 15 minutes

For the "Valentines", I just packaged up two biscotti per bag and topped with a vintage sheet music heart, folded over the top.

This was a fun project and could be changed up for any event or holiday. I loaded them all up in a tote I had made a few years ago:

So next time you have some ripe banana's on the counter, instead of making banana break, make a batch of "Banana White Chocolate Chip Biscotti", they last a long time, too!So go enjoy a biscotti and a cup of coffee! Blessings, ~Heidi